Claudio writes frequently and shared much information about poverty in his country. Unemployment and nepotism are main issues he identified that lead to poverty. Additionally, “In the rural areas, there are some men with low-paid job who get two or three wives and when the wives beget children, they are not able to support them. Another cause about poverty is low -salary of civil servants. The salary of public workers are low to such an extent that they are unable to perform all their daily needs.For instance in BENIN, a junior primary school teacher earns 120 US dollars as a monthly salary.” (Claudio, 2011). Claudio also addressed issues of hygiene and safe water in Benin. “In my childhood, people living in a town called Aguegue used to drink water from the river. As a result they contracted many diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, etc. Nowadays with the aid of USAID and other international institutions , there are tap water all over the remote areas. In the past, people used to go to toilet in the bush but today there are public convenience all over the place.” (Claudio, 2011). Claudio explained that it is mandatory for people to respect rules of hygiene.
In Claudio’s last email he said he did not understand how the United States could have a problem with unemployment when there is an “organize visa lottery for foreigners to come and work and even settle there permanently?” (Claudio, 2011). I researched visa lottery and discovered that the Visa Lottery Program is managed by the Department of State, which by law awards up to 55,000 permanent resident visas a year to applicants from countries with relatively low rates of immigration to the United States compared to other countries, based on data from the previous five years. The visa lottery was established by the Immigration Act of 1990 in an attempt to bring individuals to the U.S. from countries that had been sending few immigrants to the United States in the past (NumbersUSA For Lower Immigration Levels, n.d.). The diversity visas (green cards) grant permanent residence and employment opportunities to successful applicants. The original intent of the law was to increase diversity of the United States population. Today there are many problems with the program.
A new insight into issues of poverty is that even though poverty looks different in different parts of the world and may be on different severity levels it is caused by many of the same factors.
References
Mary, (9/2011). Retrieved from personal e-mail.
Claudio, (9/2011). Retrieved from personal e-mail
NumbersUSA For Lower Immigration Levels, (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.numbersusa.com/content/issues/visa-lottery.html
You have had very interesting conversations with your professional contacts. It was fascinating what Claudio mentioned about the visa lottery program. I did not know this existed. Looks like you made excellent contacts that can give you a lot of information!
ReplyDeleteJoey,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you sharing your contacts. Both interesting perspectives. Mary has a very interesting opportunity in educaation, to work with children from other countries. Recently me and a colleague were discussing how we could go over seas and make double what we make here in the U.S.. With the government and all the budget cuts conditions for teachers here are getting ridiculous. Claudio has a good point about poverty and unemployment in the U.S. I often wonder why the U.S. allows immigration at the rate it does, when there are so many Americans without jobs. This could be a long discussion in itself.
Thank you for sharing your contacts. It is very enlightening.
Jennifer
Very interesting post concerning the exchange teachers. I could not imagine having my child in such a diverse setting for school. It would be such an educational experience. It just goes to show the true innocence of children. They do not look at the details as in poverty, race, and diverse cultures. Its what makes my job interesting.
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